Crvena Zvezda - Building a Dynasty

Crvena Zvezda - Building a Dynasty

Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)

To run alongside my Millwall save I have decided to create a save where I start in an obscure league and attempt to rebuild a team who were once at the top, in this save I will be using Serbian side Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda).

Red Star famously won the European Cup in 1991 following a victory over French side Marseille which ended in a 5-3 penalty shootout with the Eastern Europeans taking the glory.

However in recent years Red Star haven't been as dominant as they once were and have been in fierce rival Partizan's shadow in recent years.

In contrast, Red Star have won the Serbian SuperLeague 2 times with Partizan having won it 6 times and both teams share the honour of having won the Serbian Cup on 3 occasions.

Honours:Domestic:Yugoslav First League x19

Yugoslav Cup x12

Serbia and Montenegro First League x5

Serbia and Montenegro Cup x9

Serbian SuperLeague x2

Serbian Cup x3International:
European Cup (Champions League) x1

Club Cup World Cup x1

Here is a picture of Belgrade celebrating their only Champions League triumph in 1991.

Club Information:

Founded in 1945 following the 2nd World War Red Star Belgrade are a Serbian side who had great spells of domination throughout the sport since their founding 69 years ago.

Despite their great history the club have failed to keep up with their fierce rivals Partizan who have dominated the domestic league in recent years having won it 6 times in a row from 2008-2013, Red Star's poor finances may play a part in this as the club has debts that are worth three times the clubs value which has forced them to sell their best players in recent years.

Belgrade's main rivals are Serbian side Partizan who take part in the Veciti-Derby, a fiercely contested battle between two of the nation's biggest teams with not only the clubs, but the fans going head to head.

Belgrade also share historic rivalries with that of Dinamo Zagreb and Hadjuk Split, two Croatian sides who although rarely play against Red Star certainly have cultural difference with the two countries having been at loggerheads in the past.

Manager Information:

Usually I'd pick Sunday League Experience and No Coaching Qualifications but so far on Football Manager 2015 this hasn't exactly benefited me in any way (Been sacked on 90% of my saves), so this time I've gone for something a little different, here's the information for my in-game manager:

Decided to go for somewhat decent qualifications but ones that can be improved on, Red Star are a good side but will still require a lot of work to make them the biggest club in Serbia and having good attributes will help aid my cause.

This is how I've set my Managerial Style/Attributes, more towards Tracksuit but with high tactical coaching, after all I'm not exactly the Mourinho type...

One to Watch:

I'm sure some of you have heard of Red Star Belgrade due to the fact that they have a wonderkid in their ranks, 16 year old Serbian striker Luka Jovic has certainly received a lot of attention in this year's game for having fantastic potential as well as very well rounded stats for a 16 year old, I'll certainly be aiming to keep him at the club as I look to build a dynasty here in Serbia.

Aims/Objectives:

Before possibly moving on from Red Star Belgrade I have decided to note some objective or goals that I would like to complete during my time at the club.

1: Achieve more Serbian SuperLeague titles than Partizan2: Help increase the finances at Red Star Belgrade

3: Develop some of the wonderful young talent
4: Get enrolled into the Serbian/Worldwide Hall of Fame

5: Win a European trophy with Red Star. (UEL/UCL)
6: Get Red Star ranked in the top 20 Footballing sides

7: Win at least 10 trophies at Red Star
If I somehow manage to complete these objectives I may consider moving to a new club, but it'll take at least 5-10 years if not more to complete these goals so it'll certainly be a good one!

I hope you enjoy my road to building a dynasty here at Crvena Zvezda!(Please leave comments/advice if you have anything you would like say)

After taking the seat at Red Star Belgrade we now moved into the pre-season which would be a chance to get to know my squad and set the tactics we'll be using throughout the year.

News:

Due to the fact that we only have £100k to spend here at Crvena Zvezda I decided to go out and look for a senior affiliate, someone who can loan us a couple of players just to bolster the size of our squad. There were a few suggestions such as Olympiakos, Monaco and Athletic Bilbao but I chose to go with Austrian side Salzburg who out of the 4 do in fact have the best youth facilities.

Squad:

Here is a look at the squad here at Crvena Zvezda, a very young squad with only a couple of players in their thirties, I've sorted the squad in terms of potential ability to show you how much potential we have here at the club, with a lot more in the youth teams!

It lookls as though this will be our set squad for the next year and I'm very confident that we can retain the title so long as we stay away from injuries.

I'm also glad to inform you that I did get Luka Jovic to sign a long-term pre-contract at the club in an attempt to stop him being lured away by bigger European teams, we definitely can't afford to lose him!

Transfers:

As stated above we didn't have enough money to bring in any fresh faces, but due to the fantastic youth at the club we may hopefully be able to develop a World Class squad without having to invest too heavily, but for now I've loaned in Lazaro and Dossou, some of you may have heard of or even signed Lazaro in previous saves as he is a fantastic little play-maker who can hopefully play a big part in our season.

Tactics:

After making the few additions to the team and evaluating the squad as a whole I decided to create two tactics that I will use here at Belgrade.

Tactic One:4-5-1 (Control)

The idea behind this formation is to prevent the opposition from getting the ball, being a big club in Serbia we should already be expecting to win most matches and having a formation where we knock the ball about will play a big part in breaking down and tiring out the opposition. Changes may be made to roles but I'm confident in using this formation going forwards.

These are the team instructions for the 4-5-1 formation, as you can see the instructions are highly tailored to keeping possession for large spells of time and upon winning the ball back this tactic also gives us a counter-attacking edge meaning it is a fairly well complete tactic.

Tactic Two:4-2-3-1 (Attacking)

I decided to create a tactic with two defensive midfielders which can allow our wide-men to get forwards while we remain sound at the back, this formation will be used more thoroughly in games where I expect us to score 4 or 5 goals, as patient football can sometimes lead to a lack of chances.

these are the team instructions for the 4-2-3-1, as you can see they are somewhat similar to the 4-5-1 as this is the philosophy of Football I hope to install here in Serbia, however this tactic is played at a higher tempo meaning we knock the ball about quicker in an attempt to break down our oppositions defence as effectively as possible.

Results:

Overall our pre-season went quite well, all 4 of our matches were played away from home and the fact that I was trying to drill two tactics into my players heads may have lead to our downfall in a couple of the matches, but we did manage to win 3 of our 4 matches.

However seeing how we played throughout the season I feel very confident in our attacking play but may look to strengthen the defence on the tactical side of things, but we'll see!

August would see us kick-start our campaign in the Serbian SuperLeague, a competition we were expected to win and with all this pressure surrounding the club we needed a good start.

Results:

And to my delight we definitely kicked off the way I wanted claiming 12 points out of our 4 league matches, 4 straight wins!

The fact that we only conceded 3 goals is also something to dance about as a strong defence is always a great place to start, the win against Jagodina proving to be the biggest one of the month as the other teams we faced are predicted somewhat lower in the table.

Wide-Man Darko Lazovic has been our best player in terms of goalscoring picking up 4 goals and 4 assists from the 4 matches, an incredible record from our young winger! Most of our goals did come from midfield but with injuries to Luka Jovic and Despotovic meant we were playing with bare-bones up front so I'm delighted that our other players have stepped up to cover the injured strikers.

League Table:

As you'd assume we are top after the first 4 league matches with a 2 point gap above 2nd placed Cukaricki, but it's early days and we can't afford to get too cocky.

Although I must point out that I'm over the moon at the fact Partizan are sitting in 7th place 5 points behind us, hopefully we can continue to build on this and finish above our rivals!

After our winning start to the season we now moved into September where we hoped to extend our run of victories in a bid to extend our gap at the top of table early on.

Results:

September wasn't quite as successful as the month just past, this time we only managed one win from our 3 league matches while picking up a draw and a loss in the other two, although we did manage to progress in the Serbian Cup.

The first game of the month was a home tie against Borac, a team placed in 4th following the first 4 games of the season. This game proved to cement my statements that we haven't quite become fluid in our attacking tactics just yet as we failed to break down Borac's defence despite numerous chances, the game ended as it started.

We then picked up a big 2-1 victory over Rad despite trailing 1-0 in the first half, this game was particularly frustrating as defensively we were at a shambles, constantly giving away possession and failing to clear our lines but luckily for us our attacking unit managed to scrape two goals out of thin air to help us take home the 3 points.

We then triumphed over Rakovica who are a team placed in either the 2nd or 3rd tier of Serbian Football, this game was more of a thrashing, we were far stronger than our opposition and as expected took home a comfortable 4-0 victory to progress into the 2nd round of the Serbian Cup, a competition we are expected to win.

We then finished the month with a disgraceful 2-0 defeat to Radnicki at home, a poor performance in every way as we failed to find the net which to be honest we didn't deserve to as we failed to create any real opportunities. Once again we were poor defensively and Radnicki exploited our weaknesses to take a well deserved 2-0 win, our first loss of the season.

League Table:

Despite our poor end to the month we still hold the top spot in the league table, level on points with Cukaricki, sadly Partizan have closed the gap to 2 points and knowing we have to play them in October we could soon find ourselves behind our fierce rivals after leading them by 5 points at the start of the month.

Still at the top of the table we now find ourselves in October where we have to face fierce rivals Partizan in my first ever 'Eternal Derby', the pressure is definitely on!

Results:

October was a better month, this time we managed to maintain unbeaten in our 3 league matches although we only managed to win one while drawing the other two. We also managed to progress in the Serbian Cup again (By the skin of our teeth).

The first match of the season was against our fierce rivals Partizan Belgrade in what is commonly known as the 'Eternal Derby', no doubt the Ultras were out in force to back their team as we looked to pick up a victory to re-build a gap over Partizan.

Sadly the game failed to live up to the hype, the scoreline ended as a 0-0 draw although the match did have everything you'd expect in a derby match, bad tackles, a sending off and lots of chances but sadly no goals!

Despite Partizan's 70th minute red card we were unable to force a breakthrough and ended up having to settle for a point, not the worst result but not the best.

We then took on Novi Pazar at home in what we hoped to be a bounce-back game, desperately looking for a win we set up with a more offensive minded tactic in hope that we could breakdown our oppositions defence.

Ultimately we proved to be too strong for our opposing team taking home a comfortable 3-0 victory, this time we were very prolific with our chances as despite not creating too many we did manage to score 3 of our 6 shots on target which is much more pleasing.

We then drew 2-2 to Vozdovac, a poor result as we led the match heading into the last 25 minutes before collapsing and allowing Vozdovac to get themselves back into the match, a very poor end to the game and ultimately I may be forced into switching things around at the back as the unreliable defence is causing us problems.

Finally we took on another non-league side in Boducnost Krusik in the Serbian Cup with the expectation of another easy victory, however, we actually found ourselves 2-0 down after 15 minutes after grossly underestimating our opposition who came out of the blocks firing. We did however play to our high standards throughout the match as we fought back to take a 3-2 lead, wonder-kid Luka Jovic netting the final goal and setting up the other 2 on his return to action for us following a hamstring injury.

Shockingly Krusik somehow found the will to find an equaliser in the 88th minute, a shocking piece of defending allowed the opposition striker to get through on goal before sliding the ball under our young goalkeeper, the game was going to a penalty shoot-out.

Luckily for us we took the 4-3 win in this shootout, only missing one penalty which was kept out by a fine save with our opposition striking the woodwork with their first penalty before seeing their 4th penalty saved by our 18 year old Keeper, we'd scraped through but I was still disappointed.

League Table:

At the end of October we still lead the Serbian SuperLiga by 2 points ahead of Cukaricki who we have to play at the start of November, hopefully we can press on and grab some victories but I'm very glad to see us remain at the top of the table.

November was a fairly decent month and saw us pick up the winning momentum as we won 3 of our 4 matches in the month.

We began the month with a massive 3-1 victory over 2nd placed Cukaricki to distance ourselves at the top of the table, a great performance in which we were clinical in front of goal and managed to lead 3-0 before half time, our opponents managed a late goal but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation.

We then picked up league victories over Spartak and Radnicki to add to our winning form, a great 6 points in which we never looked like losing as we comfortably kept possession while converting the chances that came our way, Despotovic has proved to be quite a clinical striker and is currently keeping the ever-injury prone Luka Jovic out of the starting XI.

We then finished the month with a poor loss away to Beograd, a team who are performing well this year and find themselves fairly high in the table, but we never got into the rhythm of the match and quickly found ourselves 2-0 down before grabbing one back. However a red card to Djordjevic our CB quickly relinquished any hope of a comeback and we slipped to our 2nd league defeat of the season.

League Table:

The 9 points gained from this month were enough to leave us sitting at the top of the table, a place we've held since very early in the season as we have now hit the 30 point total, 4 points ahead of 2nd placed Cukaricki, a win over them helped our cause no doubt.

December will be a short update as only two matches are played before a 2 month winter break.

December would see us play our final league match (And a cup game) before the annual winter break, and with a 4 point gap already formed we knew we'd be sitting top at Christmas.

Results:

Our first game of December saw us take on Mladest Lucani in the Quarter-Final of the Serbian Cup and with the expectations being set to win the cup, I knew we couldn't afford a slip up at this stage, especially with Partizan having been knocked out.

A very strong performance saw us overpower a struggling Mladest side with a comfortable 3-0 scoreline, goals coming from Lazovic, Pecnik and Despotovic with our opponents unable to find a reply, we were into the semi-finals, one step closer to cup glory.

Our second and final game of the month saw us take on Nepredak at home, and despite this being the last game before the break some of our players were clearly already on holiday, a poor performance in which we dominated the ball and had over 20 chances but failed to find the net,something we need to work on as dropping points like this just isn't good enough.

League Table:

Luckily for us, despite our blunder Cukaricki also slipped up in the final match of the calendar year meaning we are able to maintain our 4 point lead at the top of the table.

I don't think any/many additions will be made to the squad over Christmas but the break will give us a chance to get our injured players back to fitness, then hopefully on return we can start strong.

With Serbia being in Eastern Europe it's only fair that a winter break be organised due to the terrible playing conditions, this is an annual event in this league and gives us a chance to make some signings and recover some fitness before rallying in the 2nd half of the season.

News:

Lionel Messi has returned to winning ways after claiming his 5th Ballon D'or ahead of teammate Neymar with Chelsea's Eden Hazard claiming 3rd spot. Quite a surprise not to see Cristiano Ronaldo make the top 3 but Messi is a deserved winner nonetheless!

Our attacking right-winger Darko Lazovic has claimed the Serbian FA Player of the Year, a great award for the young man who has had a fantastic season so far!

Salzburg youngster Velon Berisha will be joining us on loan until the end of season free of charge, another benefit of the affiliation between the two clubs as we now have a much stronger midfield as we look to win the title.

But overall we had a very quiet Winter break, the main focus was to get the squad back to full fitness.

We only played one mid-season Friendly during February which will be shown during that update.

Returning from the Winter-break we now head into February where we will be playing our only mid-season Friendly match along with the return of the Serbian SupaLiga.

Results:

Our return to action saw us win all 3 of our matches in February in what had proved to be a very strong return from the squad, back to full fitness and raring to go I could see how much the boys wanted to crack on and win the title.

This month also saw us keep 3 successive clean sheets, an amazing feat as I always yearn to have a strong defence so the fact that we managed to win three matches without leaking a goal gave me a lot of confidence in my players.

Both of our league matches were very similar in that we dominated the ball while knocking it about with a lot of pace and creativity, however we only managed to take 2 of our 20+ chances in both games which is a little concerning as we should be capable of putting game to bed early on.

Nonetheless I'm very pleased with our return to league action.

League Table:

However Cukaricki also managed to win their two league matches meaning the gap remains at 4 points, we mustn't get ahead of ourselves in thinking that we have a safe gap between us and 2nd and really need to crack on and rack up the victories.

Due to the fact that I got a bit carried away playing this save last night and forgot to screenshot the table in March I've put the March and April updates into one, which hopefully will be acceptable.

News:

With March 22nd rolling around we received our annual intake of young talent and I have to say this year it looks very exciting. A couple of the players have fantastic potential and will no doubt play a part here at the club in the future or be sold on for a decent profit.

I'm very excited by this as these players join an already exceptional young team, here's a look at the reserves squad before the intake:

As you can see we have an array of talent here at the club and a lot of these players will no doubt play a huge role at the club throughout the next couple of years, especially while the club is heavily in debt.

Results:

March/April combined were fantastic months as we managed to win 6 games, draw 4 and only suffered defeat once.

The first two games of March saw us take on Vojvodina and Jagodina in which we managed to pick up 4 points, I was disappointed not to get the maximum points from these two games especially as Vojvodina are a lot lower down the table than Jagodina, but our away form this year has been somewhat shambolic.

We then took on Spartak in the Serbian Cup, and despite our much stronger stature they were able to restrict us to a 1-1 draw in the away leg although I was happy that we managed an away goal as I knew how strong our home has been this season, and as you can see we overpowered the 3-0 in the return leg to book our place in the Serbian Cup Final against Donji Srem, a game I'm desperate to win.

Between the two cup legs we took on Borac and Rad where once again we managed 4 points from the two games and almost a repeat of the first two matches as we managed to beat the stronger team (Borac) and were held by the time towards the bottom of the table due to some sloppy defending late on. But we were still on an unbeaten run so I was happy in that regard.

We then managed an easy 3-1 win over Radnicki following our 2nd leg in the cup, a comfortable performance in which we began to get complacent at the end of the season again and allowed our opponents to find a goal late on, this was unacceptable and we need to start seeing out the full 90.

Following this was one of the biggest games of the season, a derby match at home against our fierce rivals Partizan and with our opposition currently sitting in 3rd/4th we knew that a win over them would all but certainly cement our finish above them this season.

The Belgrade Ultras were out in full force in a ploy to intimidate and express hatred towards the Partizan fanbase, this atmosphere clearly fired the players up as we took to the pitch.

The game proved to be a thrashing, we took a comfortable 3-0 win against our fierce rivals with Despotovic and Pecnik finding the goals, the atmosphere in the stadium had clearly played a part in helping us assert our dominance over Partizan, Crvena Zvezda were returning to the top of Serbian Football!

For the second derby match in a row the game saw a red card, once again it was Partizan who were reduced to 10 men early in the second half, our high discipline had given us the advantage as our opponent's got carried away and lunged into some dangerous tackles, a clear sign of their frustration.

This victory had all but certainly claimed the title for us, we were in a very strong position and would certainly be disappointed to throw it away now.

Returning from debry glory we then took on bottom of the table Novi Pazar, and clearly we were still hungover as we slumped to a disgraceful 5-2 loss despite being 2-1 up at half-time, I was quick to let the players know of my frustration but needed to rally the room in order to get the winning momentum back.

We then took on Vozdovac (Who are now the bottom team) in a match where we still looked nervous following our shocking loss at the weekend, but the players managed to scrape a 1-0 win despite not playing at all to our usual standard, a sign of champions as we pulled out the win.

Our final match of the dual-month update saw us take on 2nd placed Cukaricki with us knowing that a win over our opponents would pretty much guarantee that the title would be coming home to Red Star, however our opposition showed why they are currently in 2nd place as they battled from 3-1 down to salvage a 3-3 result, a bit of frustration aired the stadium but at least we avoided defeat.

League Table:

Having now played 26 games, 4 away from the end of the season we find ourselves 8 points ahead of Cukaricki and the confidence is flowing around the club as we know that the title is almost certainly confirmed, a fantastic season and hopefully we can end on a strong note!

Also fantastic to see Partizan down in 6th, hopefully they'll stay there.